What’s Happening?

This post was written by MJ on 27th Mar, 2003

This post has absolutely nothing to do with the warPartially inspired by Mr attaboy’s fine rundown of stories we might have missed in between all discussion of that other thing, and maybe prompted by the blissful realization that we’re more than a week into the Quebec election campaign and I have yet to post a thing about it, here are some local stories of note:

Videotron workers have accepted a deal with the cable company, ending a long, costly, bitter and nasty strike. It seems like the workers got a good deal — the company was forced to drop its plan to send 650 jobs to a different firm in exchange for a three-year wage freeze. Whether the company can survive — and how much it will harm parent company Quebecor, itself mired in debt — is another question. It has lost hundreds of thousands of subscribers. It has generated a tremendous amount of ill-will. It has lost its position as the dominant, near monopoly, provider of telly.

It was reported in Le Journal about a month ago, and Kate linked to it on Montreal City, but it’s now official: The old Warshaws on the Main will be turned into a PharmaPrix. Proof is a sign asking for employees posted on the former grocery’s grimy windows. My bet is it will be a fancy-pants one like the new one on Ste-Catherine near Guy; I’m still wondering whether the neighbourhood can sustain two drug stores; and, most importantly, I want to know this: Why do all drug stores smell the same? How do they do that?

Nic Berube in La Presse has a short bit on Sue Montgomery’s suspension from the Gaz, first reported in TNF. Nothing new; Mr Romanelli says she didn’t report both sides of the coin; there’s no quote from Ms. Montgomery.